Transcribed from an article in South Africa Magazine, 19 October 1918
By Ellen Stanton

THE INFLUENZA SCOURGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

THE WORST EPIDEMIC THE COUNTRY HAS EVER HAD TO BATTLE WITH

HUNDREDS OF DEATHS A DAY IN CAPE TOWN.

FIFTEEN HUNDRED DEATHS IN NINE DAYS AT KIMBERLEY

(Reuter's Telegrams.)

CAPE TOWN, October 8 (delayed).

The present, according to medical testimony, is the worst epidemic South Africa has ever had to battle with, the plague being nothing in comparison. Much good, however, is hoped for as the result of inoculation. Several thousands of people have already been beneficially inoculated, and the supply of vaccine will shortly be augmented. Relief work is already in full swing, and organisation is developing hourly. Soup-kitchens and free medicine depots are being opened in numerous centres. Thousands of volunteers are coming forward, the most welcome being college students. Mrs. Botha herself has opened a relief centre in the coloured quarter of Cape Town, and generally speaking the ladies have rallied splendidly to the call. Between 140 and 150 burials took place at the Maitland Cemetery today. Mr. H. C. Becker, member for Ladismith in the Union House of Assembly and Government Whip, has succumbed to the epidemic.

The influenza epidemic at Johannesburg shows no signs of abating, and is causing much anxiety. Over a hundred cases were admitted to hospital on Monday, and there were eleven deaths in the hospital by Monday night, mostly natives. The position in the mines, however, is steadily improving, and the hospital cases have diminished from 20,000 to 3,000 since the beginning of last week.

The epidemic is now spreading to the country districts of the Cape Province. So far the main-line train services have been maintained, but the local services at Cape Town and Kimberley are much curtailed.

Although 8000 cases have occurred at Durban there have been no deaths, and the epidemic is diminishing. At least two of the coal mines in Northern Natal, however, are temporarily closed.

CAPE TOWN, October 9.

Indications point to a slight diminution in the influenza epidemic among Europeans, but as far as the coloured community is concerned the situation is becoming even more terrible. According to a moderate computation the bodies of at least 300 victims are awaiting burial. Over 200 funerals took place this afternoon. Free coffins are being provided. The relief machinery is working smoothly, but is taxed to the utmost.

CAPE TOWN, October 10.

The doctors have now mapped out Cape Town into areas to ensure the best utilization of their services, and an improvement in the situation is expected by the week end. At Kimberley and Johannesburg the epidemic has not abated, and all business at Kimberley has been suspended apart from the chemists and food shops. Up to the present there have been 718 deaths, including 30 Europeans. A serious feature on the Rand is the effect on collieries, six of which have closed down, while others are only working at one-third of their normal capacity.

CAPE TOWN, October 10 (delayed).

There is no change in the situation in Cape Town due to the epidemic of influenza. Through there are more signs of activity in the city today, there is no appreciable abatement of the disease among the coloured population. Today's burials exceeded those of yesterday, numbering 250. Seven hundred gallons of medicine, 25,000 doses of aspirin and several cases of Epsom salts were distributed from the medical depots yesterday. The City Hall presents the appearance of an overgrown store, being stacked with provisions. The doctors have adopted three standardized prescriptions.

At Kimberley, there were 467 deaths, of which 50 were Europeans. It is estimated that 1500 persons belonging to all races have succumbed in nine days, two-thirds being from the mine compounds. The malady is now extending to towns in the Cape Province.

JOHANNESBURG, October 11 (delayed).

The municipal efforts to combat the influenza epidemic is restoring confidence. The banks and Stock Exchange are closing in the afternoon. An appeal is being made to shopkeepers to do the same, thus enabling employes to obtain the utmost amount of sunshine. Several schools have been transformed into hospitals. About half the police force is down with the disease.

CAPE TOWN, October 11.

Hitherto there have been about 8800 cases of influenza, of which 4500 occurred among the coloured workers, among the railwaymen of the Union, excluding Kimberley. Up to the present there have been 465 deaths, mostly natives, among the workers in the Witwatersrand Mines. The position at Johannesburg is not worse. Many of those who have been lying unattended for some days have now been taken to hospital as the result of house-to-house visits. It is roughly estimated that the death toll in Cape Town and the suburbs is about 500 daily, one-fifth of this number being Europeans.

CAPE TOWN, October 11.

Apparently the influenza cases in the Cape and in the Peninsula are decreasing, but there is a serious increase in pneumonia among the European and coloured inhabitants alike. The Johannesburg Municipality has voted Ł10,000 for the conversion of schools into hospitals and for supplying comforts, medicines, and food free of charge.

CAPE TOWN, October 12.

The influenza epidemic in Cape Town has somewhat abated, and the streets are becoming more crowded. Nevertheless the increasing prevalence of pneumonia is a serious feature.

The position at Johannesburg is regarded as more serious, both as regards the virulence and the area of the infection. The official record of deaths is as follows: Wednesday, 27 Europeans and 57 coloured; Thursday, 37 Europeans and 37 coloured; Friday, 32 Europeans and 58 coloured. The total death roll in the mines is 482, which is considered small as compared with the thousands of cases in other parts of the country. The tramway service has been further curtailed, and the organization for distributing medicines and food has been augmented. At Maritzburg the outbreak resembles that of Durban in its absence of deaths. It is stated that all the Natal collieries have been closed down for a week. Other reports continue to show a spread of the sickness in the Cape and in the Orange Free State centres, but relief measures are being promptly organized.

("Times" Telegram.)

CAPE TOWN, October 10.

The influenza epidemic continues to rage with unabated fury in Cape Town, Kimberley, and Johannesburg, and has now spread to many other towns and villages throughout the country.

There were 250 burials in Cape Town yesterday, not including those in the cemeteries of the Malay community, which also has suffered severely. The ordinary business of Cape Town is practically at a standstill. Several large hotels, most of the restaurants and cafes, and many of the shops have closed down. The tramway, postal, and telephone services are disorganized and much restricted. The streets are as empty as on a Sunday. In the overcrowded coloured quarters and in the native location near Cape Town the ravages of the disease are especially heavy, and the sights and scenes of the last few days have often been gruesomely harrowing.

The Union Health Department has been sharply and justly criticized alike for having delayed to warn the public of the danger and for failing to organize medical forces in proper time. Thanks to the efforts of the City Council, aided by voluntary workers, a fairly complete system of dispensary, medical, and food relief has now been established. In Johannesburg yesterday 6000 cases, mainly natives, were in hospital, and while the epidemic has abated on the gold mines, six collieries have been compelled to close down and others are working at one-third of their normal capacity.

("Daily Mail" Telegrams.)

CAPE TOWN, October 10.

Cape Town has now for a week been in the grip of a terrible calamity. It would be impossible to exaggerate the extent and seriousness of the mysterious epidemic which, beginning on the 5th, rapidly attained appalling proportions. Conditions in the city today are only comparable to those prevailing in the old-world plague days.

The tendency at first was to regard the outbreak humorously. The ghastly facts speedily changed the public attitude, for, although death's ravages are not so large among the White population, intense prostration caused by disease has paralysed all public activities. Among the coloured native and Indian communities the epidemic has spread on wings with an enormous death rate, numbers dropping dead in the streets. Normal burials at local cemeteries of 12 daily rose to 40 a week ago, then to 60, 100, 160, 200, and today 240.

The death rate among Europeans is now rising, pneumonia supervening on so-called influenza symptoms in a large number of cases. All available Europeans are concentrating on relief work, which is making a supreme demand upon all classes. The distress in the congested areas of the town is appalling. Whole families are completely prostrated and unable to secure food, necessitating the diversion of the entire motor transport system to relief and the work of funerals.

The problem of the supply of coffins presents the greatest difficulty, but the military are assisting as far as possible.

Tramways and trains are running still, but with a greatly reduced service, and all the public services are largely paralysed. Business is at a complete standstill, and the newspapers are being produced with the greatest difficulty owing to the majority of the staffs being prostrated.

The disease is spreading rapidly throughout the country, though thus far the situation in Cape Town is incomparably the most serious in any part of the Union. Strong criticism is directed against the Government and the Public Health Department for omitting to take precautions when a vessel arrived here three weeks ago with a large number of native troops who were suffering from so-called Spanish influenza. These were allowed to land and were sent to their homes, thus initiating the epidemic.

It is estimated that the patients in Cape Town number 40,000. There are no signs of abatement.

CAPE TOWN, October 12.

Coloured and native victims continue to die in large numbers from influenza. In the case of the Europeans the individual attacks are especially severe, pneumonia supervening in a large number of cases, so that the European death-rate is rapidly rising.

Public business is at a complete standstill, and all amusements are suspended.

The number of deaths is variously estimated: 440 were known yesterday in Cape Town, apart from large numbers of Indians, natives, and coloured people. Probably a total of 750 would not be beyond the mark.

The disease is rapidly spreading throughout the country. Kimberley is in at least as serious straits as Cape Town.

Government bacteriologists have produced a serum, and inoculation is proceeding in Cape Town on a large scale, though many medical authorities are extremely doubtful as to its efficacy.